


The Propulsion of Mercury

by makesureyouwashyourhands



Category: Impulse (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Acceptance, Agender Bart Allen, Arthritis, Bart Allen is Non-Binary, Chronic Pain, Coming Out, Cuddling & Snuggling, Father-Son Relationship, Flash Family, Flashfam, Fluff, Gen, Max Mercury and Max Crandall are the same person idk why ao3 did this, Non-Binary Bart Allen, Non-Sexual Intimacy, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Platonic Cuddling, Rating May Change, They/Them Pronouns for Bart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-19 09:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29623983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesureyouwashyourhands/pseuds/makesureyouwashyourhands
Summary: A series of one shots about Bart and Max. Feel free to comment your requests! Just please no slash.
Relationships: Bart Allen & Max Crandall, Bart Allen & Max Mercury
Kudos: 7





	1. Aching Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is an old man, and as such, he has old man problems. Like arthritis. Helen is out of the week, but Bart’s there to lend a hand... to the best of their ability.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs: arthritis, aging, getting old, chronic pain, extremely brief death mention but no one even actually died

Max was an older man. Oh, hell, who was he kidding? He was an _old_ man. Just old. None of that suffix nonsense. He had been called many things in his lifetime—the “Sensei of Speed” was a silly yet favorite nickname—but none of them arthritic patient. People typically couldn’t reconcile the handsome and quick Max Mercury with the aging (aged), tried Max Crandall. He wasn’t sure why. Even speedsters got old—likely faster than normal if Bart was any indication. None of this did anything for his joint pain. He guessed it didn’t need to. Helen kept telling him to this and that to soothe it but he always forgot. Another perk of being old.

On days like this he wished he took Helen’s advice. She was out for the weekend, visiting a cousin, and he couldn’t remember what exactly she told him to do to keep his joints from hurting so badly. He wasn’t sure why it was worse some days than others. All he knew was it was hard to get anything done because of it. Luckily, he didn’t have any obligations today. 

“Max? Are you still asleep?” Bart’s voice yawned, before poking their large head in through the door. 

“Not asleep, Bart. Just resting,” Max corrected.

Bart opened the door all the way and ran up next to Max. “Are you sick?”

”No, my joints are bad today,” Max explained.

”Why?” Bart asked.

”I’m just old, Bart. This happens when you get old,” Max said.

Bart paled. “You’re dying? No! Max—“

”I’m not _dying_! I have arthritis!” Max laughed. 

Bart stopped panicking. “Oh, so... what do we do?”

“Get some towels, soak them in hot water, and bring them to me,” Max instructed. Bart ran off and came back seconds later with two wet towels. “Now here, let me show you how to wrap them.”

Max guided Bart’s hand as they carefully (as carefully as Bart could go, anyway) wrapped the towels around Max’s wrists. The pain went away a little. Heat had always been Max’s go-to treatment for this sort of thing, even when it was just minor muscle aches from running all day long. Bart ran and got some more for his knees, wrapping them themself this time. They were a little loose, but Max wasn’t moving anytime soon, so they would stay on. 

“Do your bones still hurt?” Bart asked.

“It’s not my bones, Bart, it’s my joints,” Max sighed.

“They’re a part of your bones!”

“They still hurt, but they feel better. Thank you, Bart.”

Bart grinned wide and nodded. Without asking or saying anything, Bart crawled into the bed and snuggled up to next to Max. “Night!” they said, and then he was asleep. 

_Now why can’t they do that at bedtime?_ Max wondered. Regardless, he ought to take a nap as well. Sleep made the aches go away too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you sexualize this I’m legally allowed to kill you


	2. So you don’t have any biney? That’s so poggers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Bart came out to his ~~dad~~ mentor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs: fear of rejection, coming out (just ic), brief mention of a homophobia

Bart wasn’t stupid. Bart _was not_ stupid. Bart knew what Bart was doing. Bart had thought about it for a long time. Bart knew Bart was not a “he”. Bart also knew Bart was not a “she”. Bart was a “they”. They wanted to be recognized as such.

They weren’t sure why they were so nervous. Well, yes they were, but they also weren’t. They were nervous because they could be rejected and sent away. To where, they weren’t sure, but it shouldn’t have mattered. They had been sent away once already over literally nothing. They were going into _this_ situation with the possibility in mind. Tim, Kon, and Cassie said that going into a situation expecting to get burned hurt less. Bart believed them until just now. They did not like the idea of Max sending them away. It gave them nightmares, sometimes. Bart wasn’t sure why that was, but it was happening and they were very, very nervous. They were nervous to tell Max.

But they were gonna!

Determined, Bart marched into Max’s office and planted themself in the doorway. “Max?”

Max didn’t look up, but he asked, “What is it, Bart?”

Bart hesitated, but continued. “I have something to tell you!” they said.

”Oh?” Max said, turning to look at them. 

“I-I think I’m non-binary!” Bart declared with a little less power than they meant to. There! It was out! Nothing could hurt them now... nothing could hurt them now... However Max reacted was his own business. That was what the website said anyway!

Max blinked. “What... does that mean? I’m not sure what that means. Honestly! I’m not messing with you.”

Bart thought for a moment. How did they explain it? It wasn’t super hard to get, but Max was, like, _really_ old. “So... you know how there’s boys and there’s girls?” they began.

Max nodded.

”So... you know how some people have boy bodies but are actually girls, and girl bodies but are actually boys?” Bart asked tentatively.

Again, Max just nodded.

 _“Soooooo..._ there are people who are in between boys and girls—in a bunch of different ways, like switching between them—and I think I don’t I have a gender at all. I think I’m agender,” Bart explained.

Max frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t have a gender?”

”No! Like the prefix, ‘a’, _a_... _gender_. Agender!” Bart corrected. 

“Oh, well alright then,” Max said casually, and Bart’s relief at that couldn’t really be understated. “Is there a name you would prefer I call you?”

”No, Bart’s okay,” they said.

”What about pronouns? You’re not a boy or a girl, so do you have something you made up, or...?” Max trailed off.

”I like they/them,” Bart said. “I know those are technically plural, but they’re used in the singular context a lot anyway.” That’s what the websites said anyway, they weren’t super keen on grammar. English was not their first language, no matter how well they spoke it.

”Alright, so that’s that,” Max said. 

“I’m really glad that you are, but why are you taking this so well? I thought old people were supposed to be all ‘Nooooo evil gays...... grrrrr’!” That’s how President Thawne was, anyway. From the few times Bart was out of his VR life, he remembered hearing that and not knowing what it meant. 

“Bart, are you under the impression that gay people weren’t common when I was young? Because they _definitely_ were. I had some trans friends back in the day, too,” Max said. “There being something I hadn’t heard of doesn’t surprise me. My friends told me there would be stuff I didn’t know about.”

“Oh, well that’s cool!”

”I’d say so. Have you told Helen, yet?”

”Not yet.”

”She’s fine with all of it, it’s safe to,” Max assured him. Bart nodded.

There was nothing left to do, they should really just leave now. This was getting awkward. They should zip away like they always did and leave Max to his taxes or whatever he did all day. They couldn’t hang in the doorway like an idiot. 

“Bart, would you like a hug?”

_”Yes!”_

It was a good hug. 


End file.
